Count Florida basketball coach Todd Golden among those surprised when 7-foot-1 center Micah Handlogten made a pair of 3-pointers in the second half against Loyola Maryland.
It’s not every day you find a 7-footer that can step behind the 3-point line and knock shots down.
“He usually doesn’t shoot them,” Golden said. “Listen, he’s a skilled player for his size. And they weren’t guarding him out there.”
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Handlogten impacted several drives to the rim as well as part of a solid debut for UF’s frontcourt players. A Marshall transfer, Handlogten finished with 16 points, 6 rebounds, 1 block and 1 steal in his Florida Gators debut. Seton Hall 6-10 transfer forward Tyrese Samuel added 15 points and 8 rebounds, while true freshman 6-11 forward Alex Condon had 14 points.
Samuel and Handlogten started up front, with Condon the first player of the bench. The trio went a combined 17 of 25 from the floor and 4 of 5 from 3-point range.
“We’re going to continue to get better,” Samuel said. “We’re going to play different teams and everyone is going to have their night one day. One night it will be Micah, one night it will be Condo. It is what it is and we’re fine with that as long as we play together, that’s all that matters.”
Size, physicality and depth up front was an issue for UF last season, especially after All-SEC forward Colin Castleton went down with a broken hand in February. Florida finished the year ranked 13th out of 14 SEC teams in rebounding margin at -3.97.
Florida held its own on the boards against Loyola with a 39-29 rebounding edge, but a bigger test will come Friday when Florida plays Virginia at the Hall of Fame Series in Charlotte, N.C. (7 p.m., ACC Network).
“The biggest key for our frontcourt, and it’s a little more prevalent than we realize, is just their ability to pass and share the ball,” Golden said. “They do a really good job of finding each other. Our guys are really talented at finding shooters. And more so than being able to shoot and stretch the floor, if you have bigs who can pass it and spray it, it makes your team really, really hard to guard.”